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“I have to work late this week, dearest,” Gale said to Tav as they sat down to dinner. “A new professor is starting and they asked me to show her the ropes.”
“Okay, that’s fine. Will you still be able to meet Jakob and Ryan for dinner on 8th day? Jakob tells me they have some exciting news to share.”
“Oh really? Do you think they’re finally going to get married?”
“I hope so. They are so into each other. Almost as sickening to watch as we are,” she winked at him. “Do you think you’ll still be able to make it?”
“My dear, I will endeavour to attend.”
Later, Tav would pinpoint that day as the beginning of the end.
***
Over the next several months, he began to talk about the new Professor, Amelia Picardo. At first it was Professor Picardo, then it was Amelia, and finally Amie. How smart she was. How talented she was at magic. How well she handled her students.
They would meet for lunch most days, and go out to the Yawning Portal with other colleagues a few nights a ten-day. He had always worked late, but he used to bring his work home so that they could at least spent some time together. Now he stayed late at the academy most evenings.
She tried getting him to spend more time with her. Maybe they just needed to reconnect.
“You’ve been busy lately. Do you think you could take an evening and we could go out somewhere?”
“That sounds delightful. Amie said she was planning to spend tomorrow evening at the Yawning Portal. Perhaps we can met her there. I’ve been meaning to introduce you to her anyway.”
Her heart sank, but she kept her face neutral. “Sure, that sounds great.” She gave him a small smile.
The next night, she got herself dressed up a little. She wore a nice dress, put some rouge on her face, did her hair.
“You look lovely, my dear,” he said to her and kissed her head as they got ready to leave.
Amelia was gorgeous. Tall, slender, thick blond hair, piercing blue eyes. She made Tav feel like a frumpy grandmother. She bounded over to Gale and gave him a hug as they entered the tavern. He returned it just as enthusiastically.
“Amie, this is my wife, Tav.”
“Oh, its so nice to meet you. Gale hardly talks about his home life, so I wasn’t sure what to expect,” She said to Tav as she shook her hand weakly. Tav caught the dig at her while Gale seemed oblivious.
Tav spent most of the rest of the evening as the third wheel. Gale would occasionally try to bring her into the conversation, but Amelia was seemingly an expert at icing her out. Once, when Gale got up to get them another round, Amelia leaned over to Tav and sneered “You know that he’s going to eventually leave you for me, right?” Tav didn't have a chance to reply before Gale came back.
***
“So, are you sleeping with her?” She dared to ask the next morning.
“I’m sorry, what?” Gale wasn’t sure he heard her right.
“Are you sleeping with her?”
“With whom?”
“With Amelia.”
“Why on Toril would you think that? Tav, my love, you are the only one I am sharing my bed with. You know that.” He had the gall to look surprised.
“Because she straight up told me she was after you.”
“My dear, don’t be ridiculous. You must have misheard her. We are friends and colleagues and nothing more.” He kissed her on the head as he grabbed his notes. “I will probably be late this evening.”
“Sure.” She turned and walked away from him.
He frowned and went to work.
***
She sat in Jakob and Ryan’s kitchen later that afternoon.
“She said what? No she didn’t!” Jakob couldn’t believe that someone would be so brazen.
“She absolutely did,” she said as she sipped at her wine. It wasn’t like her to drink at the 14th hour, but she was having a day.
“Did you tell him she said that?”
“Yeah, he said I was ridiculous and must have misheard her.”
Ryan refilled her goblet for her. “Do…do you think he’s having an affair?”
She desperately tried not to cry. “If he’s not fucking her now, he will be soon, no doubt.”
“Are you two still intimate? Surely he wouldn’t with the sex life you two have.”
“We haven’t done anything in more than a couple of months. He’s never home.”
“Tav, you have to set some boundaries. Make him see how serious this is,” Jakob said as he finished his coffee.
She nodded.
***
She waited up for him that night.
“Darling, you’re still up! How was your day?”
She took a deep breath. “Gale, can we talk?”
“That sounds pretty ominous, my love. What troubles you?”
“I’m…concerned about the amount of time you’ve been spending with Amelia as of late.”
“How so?”
“I feel like I barely see you anymore. You haven’t spent any time at home in ages. We haven’t had sex in months. I feel like you’re slowly drifting away from me.”
“Tav, don’t be ridiculous. You know I love you.”
“Would you be willing to stop seeing her as much? Spend more time with at home with me?”
“Tav, we spend plenty of time together. You have no reason to be jealous of my friendship with Amie.”
“Why can’t you see what she’s doing?”
“Not this again. Tav, there is nothing going on.”
“Please listen to me, Gale! She is trying to take you away from me! Please stop letting her!”
“Tav, are you out of your mind? I’m not going to stop spending time with her because you are insecure!” Gale was getting mad. What was she even talking about? They spent lots of time together. Their sex life was just fine. He was allowed to have a life outside of his wife. He told her so, his voice raised.
She glared at him. “Fine.” She stayed on the couch in the front room that night and cried herself to sleep.
***
They didn’t speak the next morning. Gale left for work without a kiss or a word. Tav spent the morning looking at flats.
Gale was in a terrible mood all day. He wasn’t engaging with Amelia much during lunch; he just sat there moving his food around his plate with his fork.
“Gale, are you alright? Do you need to talk about it?”
“Thank you, but no. Just some problems at home.”
He didn’t catch the smile on her face.
***
They didn’t speak that evening. Or the next morning.
She began packing.
***
She tried one more time.
“Gale, can we please talk?” He looked up from grading his papers.
“Talk then.”
“Please be honest with me. Do you want to be with her?”
He glared at her. “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.” How dare she accuse him of that! He went back to ignoring her.
She left the room.
***
She had all of her things packed up and sitting by the front door. Jakob and Ryan were coming to help her move into her new place. She hated it, but it was better than living like this.
She took another look around the tower, making sure she got all of her stuff. She entered the library and her eyes wandered to small portrait of them that was painted on their wedding day sitting on his desk. She considered throwing it into the fireplace, but instead she turned it face down. It hurt to look at it.
She walked out to the balcony, her favourite spot in the tower. The place where he showed her how much he had loved her once. She stood at the railing and breathed in the salty air for the last time, just as she had the first day she arrived. She wept.
She took off her rings and left them on the night table on her side of the bed. She felt sick as she imagined the two of them enjoying each other in it. Tav hoped that Gale would be happy in his new life.
The bell rang downstairs and Jakob and Ryan moved her out.
***
Gale sat at a table with Amelia at the Yawning Portal, something that had become a regular thing these past few months. He was still in a bad mood, but now he felt more guilty. He stared at his drink, trying to remember the last time he’d been intimate with Tav and couldn’t. Nor could he remember the last time they’d spent any significant amount of time together. No wonder she was upset. He felt terrible.
“I’m sorry Amie, I should go. I need to speak with Tav. I haven’t been very fair to her of late and I need to make it up to her.” He went to stand up but she grabbed his forearm.
“Actually, Gale. I was hoping we could talk about something.” He sat back down.
“Alright,” he said, but he had a nagging feeling that something was off.
“We’ve been spending a lot of time together over these last few months. I feel like we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well.” He nodded.
“Well…I thought,” She bit her lip, “that maybe it’s time we got to know each other even better.”
“What do you…” he was interrupted by her grabbing his face and kissing him. She pulled herself closer while he just sat there in shock, his eyes wide. He snapped out of it when she put her hand on his thigh. He pushed her away.
“Stop! What in all the hells are you doing?!”
“Gale, we’ve spent almost every free moment we’ve had together for months now. There is something between us. I know you must feel it, too.” She had gotten closer again and had snaked her hand around to the nape of his neck.
He grabbed her wrist and pulled her off of him. He stood. “I feel nothing of the sort. I love my wife.”
She stood with him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Do you? Then why are you always with me?”
He stood there speechless. Why was he always with her? Why the hells wasn’t he home right now trying to fix things with Tav?
“We have much more in common and you deserve to be with someone your equal. I can make you happier than she ever could. Please, come home with me,” she pleaded. “We could be so good together!” She placed her hands around the back of his neck again.
“Don’t touch me,” he commanded as he again grabbed her wrists and pulled her off of him. “Is what Tav said true, then? That this was your intention?”
“She and I both knew that you would eventually choose me. I mean, look at her – so plain, and barely even a magic user. You deserve so much more!”
“I’m leaving now. Don’t touch me or speak to me ever again. I didn’t go through all that I did to be with her just to have it ruined by you.” He was angry and felt violated. And stupid. And guilty. Oh, so guilty…
As soon as he left the tavern, he summoned a portal to take him home.
“Tav? Tav, I’m so sorry, you were right.” The tower was quiet.
“Tav?” Nothing. He felt a pit deep in his stomach.
He Misty Stepped his way up the stairs and into the library, where she usually was. The room was cold and dark.
The pit in his stomach grew and his chest felt tight. He had to force himself to walk to the bedroom but he knew he wouldn’t find her there either. The rings on her bedside table caught his eye immediately. He walked over, picked them up with a shaking hand and stared down at them in his palm. There was no note telling him why she was gone, but he didn’t need one. He knew. He sat down on her side of the bed and cried.
***
He called in sick for the next day and the day after that. Terrible illness. Might be out the entire ten-day he told the administrator.
He had no idea where she would have gone, but he knew who might. He made his way over to Jakob and Ryan’s. He felt nervous knocking on their door. He always hated that feeling. Jakob answered. He didn’t look terribly surprised to see Gale.
“You done fucked up.”
“I know. Please help me.”
Jakob let him in and they sat down at the table. Jakob poured him a drink.
“Did you fuck her?”
“No.”
“Were you going to?”
“No.”
“Did you not know what she was trying to do?”
“Not until last night,” Gale told him the story.
“Oh, so you’re just stupid, then?”
“Clearly.” Gale put his elbow on the table and put his forehead in his hand. “Do you know where she is?”
“Yes.”
Gale waited a moment to see if he would say more. He didn’t. “Can you tell me?”
Jakob hesitated. “She didn’t ask me not to tell you, but she also didn’t think you’d bother coming after her either. At least not until you wanted to start the divorce process.” Gale winced. That was the last thing he wanted. “I’ll ask her what she wants to do and get back to you.”
***
Tav could have started adventuring again, but she really didn’t want to go back to that life. And she wasn’t ready to leave Waterdeep. But she only took enough coin for a few months rent. She needed work.
She didn’t have a lot of skills; she knew how to be a ranger and she knew how to kill people but neither were useful now. So manual labour it was. She found work on the docks.
She came back to the flat after her shift, smelling like fish and salt, to find Jakob waiting for her.
“Good Gods, Tav,” he grimaced, holding his nose. “What have you gotten yourself into?” She unlocked the door and they went inside.
“Gotta eat, gotta work. I need to clean up. You can wait here if you want.” She began to head down the hall to the water closet.
“Gale stopped by my place yesterday.” She stopped.
“I…I wasn’t ready for him to want to divorce that quick,” her chest tightened and her lip quivered. She closed her eyes and braced her hand against the wall, trying to remember how to breathe.
“That’s not what he wanted. He is trying to find you,” he carefully studied Tav. He really had no idea how she was going to react to what he was going to say.
“Why?” If he wasn’t going to divorce her, what could he possibly want?
“Your husband is a dumbass. Amelia finally put the moves on him. I believe him when he says that he honestly didn’t believe that she was trying to break you apart to be with him. He says he left her immediately to go home, where you were not. He says he didn’t fuck her, nor was he going to. He’s stupid, but not unfaithful.”
She didn’t know what to think. So she turned and went to take her bath.
About a half hour later, she went back out to find Jakob still there.
“What should I do?” She asked him.
“I think you should at least talk to him.”
“I don’t want him to know where I’m staying. He’ll just show up. I can’t handle that.”
“Meet him somewhere. But not my house. I don’t need all those negative vibes hanging around,” he chanced kidding with her. It worked. She cracked a smile.
She would meet him somewhere neutral, but semi-private. She knew there would be tears, probably a lot of them.
“Tell him I’ll meet with him at that park a few blocks away from his tower. (His tower, not ours anymore, she thought.) The one with the statue of the beholder that all the birds shit on. When will you be meeting with him?”
“If he’s not waiting for me when I get home, I’ll be surprised.”
“Tell him tomorrow then. Mid-morning.” Gale should be at work during that time. If he won’t skip work for her, just this once, then her path forward would be easy.
“Will do!” he gave her a short salute. “Tav, it’ll be alright. Either way, you’ll get through it. You’re a tough bitch.”
She smiled weakly at him. She didn’t know how she was going to survive this.
***
As Jakob had predicted, Gale was waiting on his doorstep. He stood as he saw Jakob approach. He wrung his hands nervously.
“She’s agreed to meet with you tomorrow, at that park where all the birds shit on that beholder statue.”
He let go of the breath he was holding in and laughed in relief.
“Mid-morning. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Thank you Jakob. Thank you. I owe you; anything you want. I’ll pay for your wedding, your mortgage, kid’s college tuition, anything!”
“I’ll keep that offer in my back pocket.”
Gale walked home feeling slightly lighter than he had been.
***
Tav stood in front the mirror. She’d lost weight again, her ribs and hip bones protruding in an almost unhealthy way. Stress. She felt ugly in a way she never had before.
She wondered if she should try to look nice or not. In the end, she just didn’t have the energy to bother. She threw some clothes on and left to go meet Gale.
***
Gale stood in front of the mirror. He hadn’t been sleeping and he had dark circles under his eyes. He noted a few more greys. Tav used to run her hands through his hair, telling him it made him more handsome. Now he just felt old.
He tied his hair back, threw some clothes on and left to go meet Tav.
***
Gale was sitting on a bench with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped and head down when Tav got there. She sat next to him and he turned his head to look at her. He looked like shit.
“You were right,” he said, “and I didn’t listen.”
“Why?”
He sighed. “Work has been a drain on my mental capacity, and I had someone who I could unload to, someone who understood and was going through similar things. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to burden you.
“When we started spending time together outside of work, Tav, I honestly thought she wanted my friendship. I didn’t know she felt that way. In hindsight, I can see how stupid I was.”
He started crying. “When I came home and you weren’t there, I just…” He couldn’t finished whatever he was trying to say. He leaned forward, put his head down in his hands and sobbed uncontrollably.
Tears poured down Tav’s face as she leaned back on the bench. She wanted to gather him up in her arms and console him, cry with him. She also wanted to scream at him. She did neither.
Eventually, he calmed down. He lifted his face and leaned back. His eyes were red, his face puffy and tear-streaked.
“It hurt when you didn’t believe me when I told you what was happening. I even told you exactly what she said, and you just…ignored me.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
They were silent for a few minutes.
“What now?” He asked. This is the part that was going to hurt the worst. Gale braced himself for the end of their marriage.
“Do you still love me?” she asked.
He looked over at her. “More than anything.”
She could work with that.
She wouldn’t go home with him, nor would she tell him where she was staying, but she did agree to meet with him again in a couple of days.
“Same time?” Gale had asked.
“You’re not working?”
“I took the next tenday off.”
Tav was surprised, but nodded and agreed.
***
Gale couldn’t bear to go home to the empty tower.
“Gale!” his mother said as she hugged him. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” She got a good look at his face. “What’s wrong? Where’s Tav? Oh Gods, did something happen to her?”
“Mum, I messed up.” He started crying again. She gathered him into a hug and held him while he cried into her shoulder. Tara came out to see what the commotion was about.
“Come, let’s sit down and have some tea and you can tell us what happened.”
The three of them sat down in the garden with their tea. Gale told them everything that had happened. Morena looked at him disapprovingly. She loved her daughter-in-law.
“And what exactly are you going to do to fix this, Mr. Dekarios?” Tara was mad. She and Tav had grown quite close over the last few years.
“I…I don’t know.”
Gale reluctantly left several hours later to go back home. Tara was kind enough to go with him so he wouldn’t be alone.
***
Their next few meet ups were a little more productive with less tears. They started to dig deep into what they thought their problems actually were. Gale felt like he was drowning in work and just overall felt alone in his misery. Tav felt useless at home - Gale had convinced her to keep putting off looking for work – and was alone a lot. They realized part of the problem was that the beginning of their relationship had developed during a time of extreme stress and when they found each other again, they hadn’t taken the time to have a normal relationship before settling in together.
“May I court you?” He asked. “Do things the right way this time.”
“We can see how it goes.”
He felt cautiously optimistic that maybe they could work this out.
***
The next time they met, Tav asked Gale how work was going. He made a face.
“It’s certainly isn’t going well. Amelia (no longer Amie, Tav noted) has tried talking to me several times but I’ve been dismissing her unless it’s directly work related. The faculty gossip mill is in full production, speculating about what has been going on between her and me and if it’s true that you and I have separated. Even the students have been whispering about it. It’s been very difficult not to cast a Fireball down the hall and burn the place down.”
They were sitting in a small café that they used to frequent when Tav first arrived in Waterdeep. Tav took a sip of her coffee and nodded.
“I can see how that would be awful.” She paused for a minute. “Have you ever considered looking for something else? Another job I mean.”
He sat in contemplation. It would solve half of his problems. Why hadn’t he considered that before?
When it was time to leave, he took her hand and kissed her knuckles. She smiled at him.
***
They began to meet regularly, mostly in the evenings now, and never at the Yawning Portal. Their conversations now included more light-hearted subjects. Tav told him about how she fell into a crate of half-alive fish. He laughed.
“You know, you don’t need to work there. I can provide for you, even if you aren’t home.”
“Gale,” she gave him a disapproving look. He put his hands up in surrender.
She let him walk her home.
***
She hadn’t heard from Gale in a few of days. It was exam season at the academy and it had always been an incredibly busy time for him, so she wasn’t expecting him when she heard a knock on her door.
“Good evening. I am here on behalf of Professor Gale Dekarios. He has extended an invitation for you to join him tomorrow evening at the Sapphire House for dinner. Would you like to accompany him?”
She smiled. “Tell him I will.”
“Most excellent! He shall be here to pick you up at the 19th hour.” The projection disappeared.
***
The Sapphire House was a higher-class inn and restaurant, so she knew she would need to dress up some. She hauled all of her nice dresses out of her wardrobe and tried them all on. She felt a little giddy, like she was going on a first date. She chose something that wasn’t too formal, but definitely had some class. Morena had gotten it for her as a winter solstice gift last year.
Gale arrived promptly at the 19th hour with a bouquet of roses for her. She couldn’t help but smile. He took her hand and opened a portal to just outside of the inn. They were seated and he ordered them a bottle of very expensive wine.
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
Her heart leapt in her throat; what was so important that he had to take her out to tell her? She tried not to panic. He didn’t look upset, so it must not be that bad.
“Please do.”
“I was offered the role of Head of Research at the academy.”
Tav was surprised. “Is that something you would like?”
“I would only be teaching one class per week, instead of the several per day I have now. There may be some travel occasionally as well, such as we did when searching for that Netherese artifact. But overall, I would be working less hours for more pay. And most importantly, I would no longer be working with Professor Picardo.”
It didn’t go unnoticed that Amelia was back to being referred to as Professor Picardo.
“Will you take it?” She hoped he would.
“I already did,” he smiled.
She invited him in when he took her back home.
***
They had been separated for nearly 6 months when Jakob asked her if she and Gale were still coming to his wedding.
“I was planning to. I haven’t checked with Gale to see if he was still going.”
“Well, can you ask him? We need to confirm numbers.”
She met with Gale the next day. They had planned to go for a walk.
“So, Jakob and Ryan’s wedding is in the next couple of weeks. They wanted to know if you were still coming.”
“Of course! They’ve been good friends to us. Actually, I had been wondering if you would be amenable to staying at our tower with me during that time. It would be easier to coordinate the logistics of attending the planned events.” He paused. “And I miss having you there.”
Tav hadn’t been back to his tower (He still called it theirs) since she’d left, but it was probably time to start going over instead of having Gale meet her at her place. She stopped walking and turned to face him. He looked down at her and waited.
“Okay.”
He placed his finger under her chin to lift it to him and kissed her.
***
She had her overnight bag packed and headed over to the tower. He had offered to come get her or send her a portal, but she wanted the time to walk off her nervous energy. It took her less time than she had anticipated to reach the door. It swung open for her like it always did - Gale hadn’t changed the security protocols. She rang the bell anyway.
He had been pacing nervously waiting for her arrival. He was a bit confused when he heard the bell, the door should have recognized her. He went to the door to see her standing there, waiting for him.
“I thought it rude to just walk in,” she said as he took her bag from her.
“It’s still your home, too. You can come in whenever you’d like.”
She didn’t really reply to that, just nodded.
“I have dinner going, if you’re hungry.” He noticed a while back that Tav had lost weight again. He wondered if she was making enough to afford to eat and pay rent. He made sure most of their dates included a meal of some kind.
The place smelled amazing. She missed his cooking. “That would be wonderful. What are you making?”
Gale went on about what he was making, how he made it, where the meat came from, what spices he used. She sat at the counter and listened to him like she used to when he was cooking. He poured her some wine.
After dinner was done and cleaned up, he asked her if she wanted to do anything in particular.
“No, I’m happy to do whatever,” she said. “If you have work or something, I can just sit down here and read.”
“Would you like to accompany me to the library? I have something I’d like to show you.”
“Lead the way.”
He took her hand and led her there. When they got to the balcony doors, he asked her to close her eyes. She cocked an eyebrow at him, but did so. He opened the doors and led her outside to stand at the railing.
“Open your eyes.”
She stared in wonder at the aurora dancing over the sea. It was the wrong time of year for them.
“Did you…?”
He smiled at her. She began to cry.
He held her as her breath hitched and her nose got stuffy. He kissed her hair.
As her tears dried up she noticed that her rings were hanging from a chain around his neck. She reached up to fiddle with them. He grasped her hand and the rings within.
“Tav, I was wondering if you would like to wear them again.” His voice was thick with emotion. When she looked up at him, his eyes shone with unshed tears.
She looked down at where his hand held hers. He had never taken his off.
“Yes, I would.”
He pulled her in and held her tightly for a moment. Then he released her, took the chain off his neck and got down on one knee. She held out her hand and he slid them back onto her finger. They felt a little looser, but they didn’t fall off. He kissed her knuckles and stood up.
They kissed under the aurora that he created for her.
***
The wedding was beautiful and the reception was just as elegant. The after-party was fun; music, dancing, and lots of alcohol. Jakob and Ryan made their way over to Tav and Gale to thank them for coming.
“I see your rings are back on,” Ryan noted with a grin on his face. He was glad to see his friends were working it out.
She smiled. “Yes.”
“Are you moving back in to the tower soon?” Jakob inquired.
Gale watched for Tav’s response.
“We haven’t talked about it,” was all she would say.
It was late by the time they got back to the tower. They were drunk and laughing and Tav pushed Gale up against a wall to kiss him when they got in the front door. He cast a portal to their room, picked her up bridal style and took her to bed.
***
Tav came home to her tiny flat after work, smelling like fish. She hated it here.
***
Gale was not expecting Tav to visit him at work in the middle of the day. She looked nervous and she was biting her lip.
He threw his quill down and jumped up to greet her. “My love, are you well?”
“I…can…can I come home?”
Gale’s smile was so bright that it outshone the sun.
***
They sat in his office and ate lunch together.
“Will you be quitting your job?” He hoped so. He would help her find another one if she wanted, but the one she had was awful.
“Maybe…Probably...Almost definitely.” She hated it.
“I’ll take tomorrow off so we can…” There was a knock at his door, and they both looked over.
“Gale, I was hoping we could …” Amelia had opened the door to come in when she noticed Tav. “Ah, oh, um…” she stammered trying to think of a good enough excuse to be there. She’d been trying to talk to Gale off and on since that night, but he had been steadfast in avoiding her. She had heard from some colleagues that he and Tav had separated but were trying to work it out. She hoped to try again before it was too late.
Tav felt the air around her hum. She looked over to Gale who looked murderous. His skin glowed and the air crackled with magic. The last time she’d seen him like that was when Maryelle Wilder called her a Bhaalspawn whore. She was surprised how much she was turned on by it.
“Get. Out.” He told Amelia with gritted teeth. She did.
He put his head in his hand. He was sure that Amelia had just ruined 6 months of work to get his wife back. “Tav, I’m…”. He heard her chair scrape the floor as she got up. She was going to leave him again. His heart lurched.
Tav went around to where he was sitting, moved his arm and crawled into his lap. He latched onto her and stared at her in disbelief.
“Make love to me,” she demanded.
Without another word he cast a lock on the door and abided by his wife’s wishes.
***
He took the next day off and got Tav moved back into the tower. It took less time than he thought; she didn’t have much and the furniture belonged to the flat. Just as well; they spent the rest of the day in bed.
“Oh! I forgot to mention this to you. You know how I don’t have any memories from before?” She said at random as they laid on the bed recovering, him on his back with his arm around her while her head rested on his chest.
He raised an eyebrow. “Of course.”
“It turns out that I know how to play the lute.”
He looked down at her in surprise. “Really? How did you discover this?”
“Before the wedding, Jakob took me to this little dive bar in the South Ward. They had an amateur talent night that he was going to perform in. After his set, he asked me to watch his lute while he went to get some drinks. I just started strumming it and before I knew it, I had played three songs for the crowd. It just came to me.”
“My love, that’s amazing!” He kissed her. “Would you like to get one?” It would be good for her to have a hobby.
“Yes, I think I would.”
***
He went with her to the docks the next day where she quit her job and then they strolled through the market in town, hand in hand. Tara was with them, wrapped around Tav’s shoulder, purring away. She was delighted to have Tav back.
In all the time that they’ve been together, Tav had never had a hobby, or anything she was really passionate about since her new life had started. Gale was excited for her to finally have something she could call her own. They browsed a few different tables that sold instruments before settling on a lute that felt comfortable in her hands. She strummed a few chords, testing it out.
Gale watched her as her slim fingers plucked at the strings, small fragments of weave present in the notes she played. His eyes widened.
“What? Is it that bad?” She laughed.
“My dear, I think you may have had some bardic training in your past,” Tara said from her shoulder.”
She looked confused. “What makes you think that?”
“My love, I can see the Weave when you play.”
Huh, she thought.
***
Turns out the lute wasn’t the only thing she could play. She was a pianist and had some talent with the flute. The lyre evaded her though; it sounded like a dying cricket when she tried.
They were sitting in the library one evening, Gale reading and Tav fooling around on the piano, practicing the Lliirian Suites. She thought it would be nice if she could play them for Gale instead of him having to enchant the piano. She suddenly burst out laughing.
Startled, he nearly knocked over the goblet of wine sitting next to him. He glanced over at her. “Care to share?”
“I was thinking about what sort of childhood I must have had to be able to play this well. I’m just picturing myself as a young girl with pigtails, going to her piano lessons with Sceleritas Fel.” This cracked her up again.
Gale chuckled. His heart was glad to see Tav so joyful.
***
Gale didn’t want to push her, but he was intrigued by the weave she conjured when she played. But Tav brought it up before he could.
“Where would I go to hone in on the magic I seem to be producing?” She knew a few simple spells, but never imagined that she had talent.
He wished he could help her relearn her magic, but bardic magic was out of his wheelhouse.
“A good place to start would be the College of New Olamn. It’s the local bardic college. Fascinating history. I believe they mainly focus on lore, but I am certain they would know how to assist.”
***
After receiving some aid from the bard college, she spent several ten-days in practice. Tav was surprised how quickly it seemed to come back to her. She hoped the rest of her memories weren’t so quick to return.
“Gale!” She shouted from the library one day as he walked through the door after work. He ran up to see what was wrong. He rushed into the room and she blasted her flute. He glowed with faerie fire.
“I did it!” She laughed and jumped into a startled Gale’s arms.
“Very good, my love!” He laughed and kissed her. They spent the evening discussing how she cast and how it was different from how he would cast the same spell and other spells she was learning.
***
Life was good and they were happy again.